It was a game of few chances, as Sonny Carey’s first half strike proved to be the difference between the two teams. The visitors did force a good save from Dan Grimshaw and hit the post in the latter stages, but did little else to threaten.
Meanwhile, the Seasiders started Jake Beesley and Kylian Kouassi as their starting front two, with goal scoring opportunities for the pair proving scarce,
Explaining their decision, Blackpool manager Neil Critchley stated that due to Cambridge’s deep defensive strategy and crowded defense, they anticipated limited space for Kyle Joseph and Shayne Lavery to exploit with their runs.
Breaking down their opponents isn’t simple, as they’re compact, so the strategy is to play over them. We’ve found success by directing the ball towards Bees (Jake Beesley), who can then either lay it off to Sonny Carey or play it into Kylian Kouassi.
We also wanted to work the ball into wider areas and cross the ball into the box- Bees and Kylian give us that aerial threat. As the game opened up, we brought Kyle and Shayne on to capitalise on that space, but unfortunately they didn’t.”
